Telecommunication networks usually consist of broadband and mobile radio network sections. Broadband networks for example consist of access, aggregation and core networks and associated optical transport networks for the aggregation and core networks. On the other hand, mobile radio networks consist of mobile radio access and core network sections.
Landlines provide via grid-bound accesses connections to customer locations, whereas the mobile radio networks ensure access to the telecommunication network via radio access solutions. The historical development of these two network types was largely independent, so that nowadays there are still often parallel structures. Moreover, both types of customer connections serve different purposes (such as landline connection of a stationary building and ensuring accessibility of a mobile customer over the mobile radio network), so that customers often have a mobile radio connection in addition to a landline connection.
In telecommunication networks, the trend is nowadays towards convergent networks, i.e. a convergence of landline and mobile radio network structures, and even towards hybrid connections providing the customer with a broadband product so as to transmit and provide parts of the total bit rate via the landline and parts over the mobile radio connection.
Customer landline connections and the respective landline customer networks are typically connection- or port-oriented, i.e. the DSLAM port allocated to a customer for a DSL connection (digital subscriber line; DSLAM: DSL access multiplexer) or for a telephone connection (DIV port, Port einer digitalen Vermittlungsstelle, port of a digital exchange) is permanently wired to the customer access line. The port can then only be used by this customer even when in fact it is not used over a relatively short or long period of time (e.g. during the night or a longer period of absence, such as during a holiday). Thus, network capacity on the provider side is blocked, which on the one hand leads to costs for network expansion (capital expenditures, CapEx) and operational costs (operational expenditures, OpEx), for example for energy consumption and maintenance. Also, if assigned statically, any permanently assigned IP addresses (Internet Protocol) may be blocked depending on the realization. If logged on and registered in the net, mobile radio units likewise permanently require net resources—here of course no “permanently wired” port is required, but IP addresses, the capacity of a mobile radio cell etc. According to the state of the art, the customer net at the customer's location is operated and controlled independently from the provider network and thus often permanently operated—in accordance with the “Always-On/Always-Connected” paradigm.
This conventional principle is shown in FIG. 1: a connection of a private customer having a home network is shown that is connected to the telecommunication network of his/her network provider via a DSL line so as to be granted access to the Internet. Due to this connection, a DSLAM port is permanently allocated—irrespective of the actual utilization. The home network consists of a Home Gateway (HGW) as central node to which various home network units and components are connected via wire or WLAN, here, e.g. a PC, a laptop, one or more telephones, an NAS memory (Network Attached Storage) as well as a Set Top Box (STB) for receiving digital TV signals over the broadband connection. Moreover, the persons in this household usually possess several mobile telephones, which are likewise part of this representation and are connected to the network by the mobile radio base station. At present, both DSLAM and mobile radio base stations are connected to switches or routers (aggregation switch (AGS) or Border Network Gateway (BNG)) of the next network level (aggregation/metro networks). The adjoining cloud “further network sections” of FIG. 1 represents additional network sections ensuring the customer's connectivity to the next Internet access node (PoP: Point of Presence).
Due to the conventional structure of network components and their mode of interoperability, network resources in the provider network, such as DSLAM ports for the broadband access network or in the DIV (digital exchange), are statically assigned and permanently wired to the telephone network. It is therefore necessary to install a corresponding amount of access ports in the network even if they are not permanently required. This causes capital expenditures and later, in operation, operational expenditures (e.g. for maintenance and energy consumption).